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Threshold (episode)
A specially-outfitted warp-capable shuttlecraft piloted by Tom Paris successfully reaches Warp 10, breaking the transwarp barrier. But the side effects of breaking the barrier may cost the crew of Voyager their best helmsman. Summary Teaser Tom Paris is in an experimental shuttlecraft attempting to break the warp 10 barrier. Paris brings the shuttle up to warp 9.95 when the nacelles are suddenly ripped from the shuttle and it explodes. Paris appears sitting on the holodeck floor as if nothing had happened. It was all a simulation. Harry Kim looks despondent, and B'Elanna Torres responds matter-of-factly, "You're dead." Act One The trio goes to the mess hall to think over how to fix the problem. Neelix offers to help, but they don't believe he can contribute anything to the discussion. Paris inquires if he knows anything concerning quantum warp theory and multispectral subspace engine design. Insulted, Neelix informs them that serving for two years as an engineer's assistant aboard a Trabalian freighter makes him well versed in warp theory and demands to know what they're up to. They finally fill him in: after months of experiments, Paris, Torres and Kim believe they have found a way to cross the transwarp threshold using a new form of dilithium they discovered that remains stable at higher warp frequencies. Achieving warp 10 would allow a person to be in every point in the universe simultaneously. Kim notes that getting home could be as quick as the push of a button. A problem occurs when the ship reaches warp 9.95, when micro fractures appear and tear the nacelles from the ship. Neelix tells an anecdote from his past when his ship is traveling through a dark matter nebula. Kim is initially dismissive as this is a totally different phenomenon, but Paris realizes that it is actually the shuttle being ripped from the nacelles, not the other way around. While Kim confirms the tritanium alloy hull could depolarize at that speed, Paris continues, saying that could create a velocity differential, the fuselage traveling faster than the nacelles. As Kim infers, they could fix the problem by installing a depolarization field around the fuselage. Paris calls the confused Neelix a genius and runs out to the holodeck with Torres and Kim. In the briefing room, the senior staff watch the holodeck simulation and grin as Paris successfully brings the shuttle to warp 10 and crosses the transwarp threshold. Captain Janeway gives Paris the opportunity to start a manned test flight in a real shuttlecraft. She says he has the opportunity to join such great names as Orville Wright, Neil Armstrong, and Zefram Cochrane. Everyone is excited because if this works, then it would mean much more than just getting home; it could begin a whole new era of exploration for Starfleet. Janeway enters Paris's quarters that night with news that The Doctor discovered an enzymatic imbalance in his cerebellum that appeared during the holodeck simulation. The subspace stresses could kill him from a brain hemorrhage, although the chance is only two percent. Not wanting to take the chance, she will assign Ensign Kim to the flight. He begs her to reconsider, stating that people had always said that Tom Paris was going to do something special someday, and that this was it. Janeway agrees to it, and the next morning Paris boards the [[Cochrane (shuttlecraft)|shuttlecraft, now named Cochrane]] and launches it. The shuttle kicks into warp, followed closely by Voyager. After running a few scans on Cochrane's warp field at warp 9.7, Torres clears Paris for transwarp. Voyager increases to warp 9.975, its maximum velocity, for as long as it can but as Paris surpasses that speed, Voyager must slow and switch to long range sensors to track him. As the crew waits in anxiety, Paris goes faster and faster until finally sensors record warp 10. Then, Paris vanishes. Act Two A search fails to turn up the lieutenant, but the Cochrane reappears, where they find Paris alive, but with weak life signs. In sickbay, The Doctor scans him and observes Paris is merely sleeping. The Doctor abruptly wakes Paris and he recounts his transwarp flight to Captain Janeway. He says he was staring at the velocity indicator (which read warp 10) and then suddenly he noticed he was watching himself. He could see the outside of the shuttle, Voyager, the inside of the ship, and the sickbay. For a moment, he was everywhere, with the Kazon, the Klingons, on Earth, and he even saw other galaxies. He said it wasn't like anything he ever experienced. Paris only returned because he noticed that the crew was looking for him. Torres bursts into the room and says that the on-board shuttle sensors confirm he flew warp 10, making Paris the first Human to break the transwarp barrier. Paris asks Torres to download the shuttle's data core while The Doctor runs further tests on him. Kim downloads the shuttle's data into the computer core – over five billion gigaquads of information – including detailed information on "literally every square meter" of the sector. Janeway orders the data sent to stellar cartography for analysis and creation of a star chart. After being released from sickbay, Paris is in the mess hall where they are planning another flight to replicate the results of his first test. He begins to say the shuttle's memory core should be increased when all of a sudden Paris feels ill. First he thinks it's a stomachache but then collapses on the floor, writhing in pain. Torres asks the transporter room to beam him to sickbay but they respond saying they can't lock onto him...his pattern keeps changing. Torres calls for The Doctor and tells Paris to hold on. Act Three The Doctor examines Paris in sickbay and says he had an allergic reaction to, of all things, the water in Neelix's coffee. In fact, his entire body is mutating and his lungs are no longer processing oxygen. The Doctor replaces the atmosphere in the room with 80% nitrogen and 20% acidichloride. Paris can now breathe but a bigger problem has also developed. He is suffering from cellular degradation...he's dying. The Doctor and Kes begin using radiation to try to stop it, with little success. Paris becomes delirious, asking for a huge funeral, saying he doesn't trust anyone that doesn't cry (like Torres) and remembering his childhood when he used to cry in his room. He tells The Doctor that he lost his virginity at seventeen in his room which The Doctor says he will note in Paris' medical file. Paris exclaims he wants a pizza with pepperoni and Kavarian olives. He wants a kiss from Kes but she can't because of the atmosphere. Before he dies, he makes a last request...to tell his father that he did it. He tries to form another sentence but falls unconscious. The Doctor uses a neural stimulator to attempt to revive him but fails. The Doctor calls his death and will perform an autopsy in the morning. Kes kisses his body before she leaves sickbay. That night, as The Doctor is working in his office, he hears a strange rattling in the other room. He walks to Paris's body, where he discovers him alive and well. Paris looks at himself and promptly pulls out a clump of his hair and demands to know what's happening to him. The Doctor scans him and finds something peculiar...Paris has two hearts. Act Four Crewman Michael Jonas, in his quarters, sends data on the warp 10 shuttle flight to a Kazon named Rettik. Even Rettik is in disbelief. Janeway appears in sickbay to see a mutated Tom Paris lying in the biobed behind an isolation field. Janeway offers to help, but Paris is furious. Paris says that he is glad that he's changing and thinks that whatever he will become will be better than what he ever was. He demands that they stop trying to reverse his mutation. He doesn't believe anyone likes him and in fact, they're jealous that he broke the warp 10 barrier. Janeway walks away and concedes there's nothing she can do. Paris pleads with Janeway to help him, but instead he lashes out, hitting the isolation field in front of him. He begins to tell Janeway how small and insignificant she is, when he starts to choke. Paris then pulls out his tongue. Later, Kes discovers his rate of genetic mutation has increased another 12%. The Doctor and Kes must hurry to save the last bit of Paris's original Human DNA. Paris pleads to let him off the ship because he understands "the past, the present is in the future... the future is in the past." He is more... he is everything. They refuse. After further analysis, The Doctor derives a treatment. He plans to revert Paris' body back to his original coding by destroying the mutated DNA using anti-proton radiation from the warp core. They have the system set up in an hour. Paris has mutated even further. He is in a restraint situated next to the warp core in main engineering. The warp core shuts down to give Paris a two-second burst of anti-protons. Paris begins to struggle out of the restraints. The Doctor asks Torres to start a five-second burst of anti-proton radiation, when a commotion is heard in the background. Paris burst out of his restraints. Phaser fire erupts in engineering, then the engineering screen where The Doctor was observing the procedure goes dark. The lights in the room start to flicker. Paris ruptured the port plasma conduit on his way out of engineering, causing power failures all over the ship. Tuvok announces a level 3 security alert over the comm system. Act Five Janeway is on Deck 6 outside a turbolift when Paris attacks her from behind. She manages to fire her phaser, triggering the internal sensors, but they are malfunctioning due to the power failure. The bridge can't localize her position. Kim reports that she is between between sections 26 and 27 Alpha. Chakotay orders Tuvok's security personnel to Deck 6, sections 21 to 27 Alpha, but it is too late. Paris takes Janeway to shuttlebay two and launches the Cochrane. The Cochrane immediately goes to warp. Just then, main power on Voyager is restored and they're in pursuit. Voyager follows the shuttle until it reaches warp 9.975. Chakotay pushes the ship harder, but slows back when the main computer issues a warning that the ship's structural integrity will fail in 45 seconds. Paris and Janeway cross the transwarp barrier. They're gone. :"First officer's log, stardate 49373.4, it's taken us three days to locate the shuttle. It appears to have dropped out of transwarp in an uninhabited star system." The Doctor summons Tuvok and Chakotay to sickbay. The Doctor observes that what happened to Lieutenant Paris was an accelerated form of Human evolution. It is possible that Paris shows an advanced form of Human life. The Doctor admits that the lifeform isn't very attractive. The Doctor is still confident that the anti-proton radiation will work to revert Janeway and Paris back to their original Human DNA. Kim reports from the bridge that ship's sensors have located the Cochrane on a remote planet. Chakotay and Tuvok beam down with an away team to investigate. On the planet, they see two reptile-like beings with a number of "children." Chakotay stuns the two creatures with his phaser and brings them back on the ship. Chakotay has no idea which creature is Janeway; however, Tuvok notes that Janeway must obviously be the female. :"First officer's log, supplemental. We've transported the captain and Mr. Paris back to sickbay. As for their... offspring, I've decided to leave them in their new habitat." Paris and Janeway are reverted back to their Human selves using The Doctor's anti-proton treatments... although Paris is extremely embarrassed about having mated with the captain. Janeway accepts his apology, but admits she could have also been active in the mating process. She could even have been the one who initiated it. Janeway puts Paris in for a commendation for his achievement. Paris admits he has a few more barriers to break to build his self esteem, but Janeway believes he will easily overcome them. Log Entries * [[First officer's log, USS Voyager|First officer's log, USS Voyager]] Memorable Quotes "Can you wake him?" "I don't see why not. ''WAKE UP LIEUTENANT!" : - '''Captain Janeway' and The Doctor, on Paris "You're not going anywhere. At least not for a few hours. I have some tests I'd like to run on Your Majesty before I release you back into the realm of ordinary Humans." "You may proceed." : - The Doctor and Paris, after Paris returns from his mission "My teachers at school, all the kids, everyone used to say 'Tom Paris is gonna do something important when he grows up.' Obviously, that didn't happen." : - Tom Paris "In principle, if you were ever to reach warp 10, you'd be traveling at infinite velocity." "Infinite velocity, got it. So, that means very fast." : - Harry Kim and Neelix "What if we've been looking in the wrong place? What if the ''nacelles aren't being torn from the ship; what if the ship is being torn from the nacelles?" "''The hull of the shuttle is made from a tritanium alloy. At the speeds we're talking about, that alloy could depolarize..." "And create a velocity differential! The fuselage would be traveling at a different rate of speed than the nacelles!" "That means all we have to do is create a depolarization matrix around the fuselage!" "That's it! Neelix, you're a genius!" : - Tom Paris and Harry Kim, solving the problem of traveling at transwarp with technobabble "If this works, you'll be joining an elite group of pilots. Orville Wright, Neil Armstrong, Zefram Cochrane... and Tom Paris." "I kind of like the way that sounds." : - Kathryn Janeway and Tom Paris "If ''Voyager achieved warp ten, we could be home in as long as it takes to push a button." "Wow!" : - '''Harry Kim' and Neelix "Transwarp engines are stable, so are the nacelle pylons. I'm going to try to... Oh my God!" : - Tom Paris, reporting in while at warp 10 "For a moment, I was everywhere. I mean, ''everywhere, Captain. With the Kazon, back home with the Klingons, other galaxies, it was all there!" : - '''Tom Paris', on his transwarp experience "Ugh, I wish Neelix would name something after me that tasted a little better." : - Tom Paris, after tasting Neelix's Paris Delight coffee "What did he ingest?" "Just a cup of Neelix's coffee." "It's a miracle he's still alive." : - B'Elanna Torres and The Doctor, after Paris first falls ill "You are losing me, aren't you? I'm gonna die." "You are too stubborn to die, Mr. Paris." : - Tom Paris and The Doctor "Pepperoni! God, I'd love a pepperoni pizza with Kavarian olives right now. I'm starving!" : - Tom Paris, undergoing one of his evolutionary changes "Here lies Thomas Eugene Paris, beloved mutant." :- Tom Paris, aloud in sickbay "Great! Now it will read '...beloved ''radioactive mutant!' " :- '''Tom Paris' to the Doctor, regarding a radiation treatment "I lost my virginity in that room. Seventeen. Parents were away for the weekend." "I'll note that in your medical file." : - Tom Paris and The Doctor "I don't know how I'm going to enter ''this into the log." "''I look forward to reading it." : - Chakotay and Tuvok, after discovering Paris and Janeway's reptile-like "children" "I've thought about having children, but I must say I never considered having them with you." : - Captain Janeway, to Tom Paris after The Doctor restores their Human DNA "Kiss me." "What?" "Not you, her." : - Paris and The Doctor, about wanting to kiss Kes "I'm picking up traces of Human DNA... it's them. Although, I have to admit, I'm not sure which one is the Captain." "The female, obviously." : - Chakotay and Tuvok, after discovering Paris and Janeway "It's possible that Mr. Paris represents a future stage in Human development... although I can't say it's very attractive." : - The Doctor Background Information Story Development * The story idea for this episode came from Michael De Luca, who was at the time the head of . (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, http://www.filmreference.com/film/86/Michael-De-Luca.html) * The writers began developing the story by asking themselves what it might be like to break a fundamental rule of the Star Trek universe that had existed ever since the early days of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Jeri Taylor recalled, "Gene [Roddenberry] made the determination at the beginning of ''Next Gen that warp ten would be the limit, and at that point you would occupy all portions of the universe simultaneously, which always seemed like a wonderfully provocative notion. Then the question is 'What happens if you do go warp ten, how does that affect you?' So we all sat in a room and kicked it around and came up with this idea of evolution and thought that it would be far more interesting and less expected that instead of it being the large-brained, glowing person, it would be full circle, back to our origins in the water. Not saying that we have become less than we are, because those creatures may experience consciousness on such an advanced plane that we couldn't conceive of it. It just seemed like a more interesting image." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Supervising producer Brannon Braga later commented, "''I wrote the episode, or at least the teleplay .... And... it had some good intentions behind it. It had a good premise, breaking the warp ten barrier. I don't know where this whole 'de-evolving into a lizard' thing came from .... I think I was trying to make a statement about evolution not necessarily being evolving toward higher organisms, that evolution may also be a de-evolution. You know, we kind of take it for granted that evolution means bigger brains, more technology, you know, more refined civilization. When in fact, for all we know, we're evolving back toward a more primordial state. Ultimately, who can predict?" (VOY Season 2 DVD easter egg) * Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill was bewildered by the episode's first draft script. "When I read the first draft," he said, "I couldn't get it. I thought they took on much more than could be handled in one episode." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11) * Robert Duncan McNeill also helped refine the episode's conclusion. "I helped them rewrite the episode's final scene. I did not feel the original story ended very well. I was pleased because I got to have some input into how to resolve the story." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11) * In fact, Brannon Braga thoroughly edited the script during the rewrite process. He remarked, "It's very much a classic ''Star Trek story, but in the rewrite process I took out the explanation, the idea behind the ending, that we evolve into these little lizards because maybe evolution is not always progressive. Maybe it's a cycle where we revert to something more rudimentary. That whole conversation was taken out for various reasons, and that was a disaster because without it the episode doesn't even have a point. I think it suffered greatly. I got the note that it wasn't necessary, but in fact it really had a lot to do with what the episode was about. Big mistake taking it out." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) Later, Braga complained, "''Unfortunately, none of evolutionary theorizing came across in the episode. And all we were left with were some lizard... things crawling around in the mud. So, it was not my shining moment." (VOY Season 2 DVD "easter egg") * Regarding the hypothetical concept of infinite velocity, science consultant André Bormanis remarked, "It's fun to invoke paradox when you're talking about something as bizarre and as hypothetical as warp drive. And so, that idea become the basis for a story where Tom Paris thought that he had figured out a way to sort of 'crash' the warp 10 barrier and was eager to try to implement this, and see if he could actually achieve warp 10 flight .... Unfortunately, when Paris ''did achieve warp 10 flight, it had all sorts of unintended consequences and, physiologically, he started mutating and turning into something bizarre and strange. And the story went off in a really unconventional and kind of horror movie direction, after he had broken the warp 10 barrier. But all of that is basically the consequence of taking one of Gene's original ideas, from the beginning of Next Generation, and extrapolating and playing with it and finding an interesting way to use that as the springboard for a fun science fiction story that we can tell with our crew." (''Real Science With Andre Bormanis, VOY Season 2 DVD special features) * André Bormanis believed the first part of the episode, involving Paris breaking the warp 10 barrier, had similarities to a certain historical event. "It was a little bit of an analogue to breaking the ," Bormanis commented, "the famous story about Chuck Yeager and the in 1947, finally breaking the sound barrier." (Real Science With Andre Bormanis, VOY Season 2 DVD special features) * In the shooting script of this episode, the eponymous shuttlecraft that breaks the warp 10 barrier is named the Drake. However, a shuttlecraft of that same name is destroyed in the earlier second season episode . The eventual name of the shuttlecraft here was the Cochrane, named after Zefram Cochrane. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion) Cast * Robert Duncan McNeill enjoyed some aspects of this episode and its production. He later said, "It was fun to put on the makeup .... Also, I got to sleep with Janeway and she became the mother of my worm child! I like a few scenes that I thought were important for Paris. I like the one where I explain to Janeway how I need to prove myself by breaking the warp speed barrier." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11) Effects * To create the amphibious hyper-evolved Humans that Paris and Janeway mutate into, at least one full-size model was made of each of the two versions of the creatures, and the newborn versions were additionally visualized using CGI. (Red Alert: Visual Effects Season 2, VOY Season 2 DVD special features) * The amphibians were modeled on real water-faring animals, so that the newborn versions would look appropriate when they enter water. Visual effects producer Dan Curry explained, "We had a scene where the babies were jumping in the water. And what we did there, so we could have the water interact properly with the creature, is I designed the creature like a baby seal and a reptile." (Red Alert: Visual Effects Season 2, VOY Season 2 DVD special features) * At least one of the models of the larger amphibians was fully automated from its interior. Dan Curry remarked, "The most interesting thing for that is when they became lizards, that we had a little person inside a very large, constructed, physical lizard-like creature. And I was amazed that she was able to move around in there and get it to look so lively." (Red Alert: Visual Effects Season 2, VOY Season 2 DVD special features) * In the sequence wherein the newborn amphibians enter water, a sock was used to act as a substitute for the CGI that would later be used to represent the creatures. "We made a black sock filled with sand about that size and dragged it, with mono-filament, into the water so the water would splash," Dan Curry recalled. "And because it was black, you didn't really see it very well. And then we would replace the black sock with a CG creature, so that it looked like the creature was actually making physical contact with the water even though it was just a cloth stuffed with sand. But it gave it the right amount of weight and mass to make the water spread from its arrival." (Red Alert: Visual Effects Season 2, VOY Season 2 DVD special features) Reception * Shortly after this episode first aired, Jeri Taylor remarked, "We're taking a lot of flak for that. There's been a real lashing out. I recognize that people who are on the Internet and who write us letters are a tiny portion of our audience, but when it is as overwhelming as it was on this episode, you begin to take notice. Some of this anger was misplaced, I thought. A lot of the ire seemed to be caused by the fact that we stated no one had ever gone warp ten before, and people flooded us with letters saying, 'That's not true, in the original series they went warp twelve and warp thirteen.' We should have had a crawl before the episode explaining all this, but it really was a recalibration of warp speed." Of the depiction of Human devolution, Taylor commented, "It is not one that took with the audience. The fact that we were turning people into salamanders was offensive to a lot of people and just stupid to others." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) * Despite its lack of popularity, this episode of Star Trek: Voyager was one of only a few that were commemorated by Playmates Toys, with the launch of an episode-specific Voyager action figure release. In this case, the release was an action figure of the episode's hyper-evolved Tom Paris, complete with a phaser and his three mutant offspring. * Furthermore, the episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Series; Robert Duncan McNeill noted that putting on his makeup here "helped them win an Emmy." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11) This episode beat out , which was nominated in the same category. * In general, Robert Duncan McNeill ultimately thought this episode was very weird. "That was a bizarre show," he said. "It really was." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11) * Brannon Braga later said, "It's a ''terrible episode. People are very unforgiving about that episode. I've written well over a hundred episodes of Star Trek, yet it seems to be the only episode anyone brings up, you know? 'Brannon Braga, who wrote Threshold!' Out of a hundred and some episodes, you're gonna have some stinkers! Unfortunately, that was a royal, steaming stinker." (VOY Season 2 DVD "easter egg") * At the New Jersey [[Star Trek convention|''Star Trek convention]], Kate Mulgrew remarked to the audience that "Threshold" was the only episode of Star Trek: Voyager she was uncomfortable with. http://trekmovie.com/2009/08/03/con-report-star-trek-new-jersey-2009/ * Rick Sternbach discounts the events of "Threshold", due to its severe scientific flaws. http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/treknology/treknology-e.htm * The book Star Trek 101, by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block, cites this episode as the Star Trek: Voyager winner of the Award and states that, of the entire Voyager series, this installment is the one "most likely to give Darwin a migraine." Other Trivia * The title of this episode was also used for a show that Brannon Braga executive-produced nine years later (see ). * After the flight, Tom Paris was found to breathe a mixture of nitrogen and acid dichloride gas. "Acid dichloride" is not a common chemical name, but it could refer to phosgene, which has two acid chloride functionalities. * The events of this episode represent the fifth time (aside from the series premiere) that the Voyager crew has a possibility of returning home. * This episode marks the first appearance of the class 2 shuttle on the series. Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.6, . *As part of the VOY Season 2 DVD collection. Links and References Main Cast *Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway *Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay *Roxann Biggs-Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres *Jennifer Lien as Kes *Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris *Ethan Phillips as Neelix *Robert Picardo as The Doctor *Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok *Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim Guest Star *Raphael Sbarge as Michael Jonas Co-Stars *Mirron E. Willis as Rettik *Majel Barrett as the computer voice Uncredited Co-Stars *Andrew English as a security officer *Tarik Ergin as Ayala *Louis Ortiz as Culhane *Cindy Sorenson and Susan Rossitto as the hyper-evolved Paris and Janeway References acidichloride, alloy; alveoli; AMU; antiproton; Armstrong, Neil; asteroid field; bio-suppressor field; brain hemorrhage; cerebellum; class 2 shuttle; Cochrane, Zefram, ''Cochrane'', commendation; dark-matter nebula, dilithium; dilithium matrix; duranium; electrolyte; engineer's assistant; gigaquad; Human; hyper-evolution; Hyper-evolved Human; hypothalamus; interstitial fluid; Kalavian biscuit; Kavarian olive; Kazon; Klingon; level 3 security alert; lungs; lymphatic system; multispectral subspace engine design; mutation; neural stimulator; nitrogen, parsec; Paris, Owen; Paris Delight, pepperoni; pizza; quantum warp theory; rad; serotonin; space; subspace torque; technobabble; Trabalian; Trabalian freighter; transwarp, transwarp drive, transwarp threshold; tritanium; velocity indicator; warp 10; warp factor; warp field; water; Wright, Orville |next= }} de:Die Schwelle (Episode) es:Threshold fr:Threshold nl:Threshold Category:VOY episodes